


Human Nature

by garudamon



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure tri.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-02 22:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4076314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garudamon/pseuds/garudamon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone on Earth now knows about digimon, but the summer before Taichi, Sora, and Yamato head off to university, the chosen children are threatened by a different sort of enemy. There are evil digimon, but then there are evil humans, and humans are all-too familiar with the way the world works. Can Taichi and his friends overcome obstacles that pit them against each other (and themselves), or will they fail as guardians of their newly integrated worlds?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stolen D-3

"Mimi, I can't believe you did all this for us." Taichi exclaimed, looking around him.

Mimi's apartment was filled with tons of Taichi's classmates. In typical Mimi-fashion she'd gone all out to throw her friends a surprise graduation party. Streamers were littered across the walls and balloons of all colors were tied on to every single piece of furniture. A giant banner hung across the doorway that read 'Congratulations Taichi, Yamato, Sora!'. High schoolers were standing around talking and drinking- there were so many people that Mimi had to leave her balcony door open so fresh air could come in.

"Oh, don't say another word about it," Mimi shushed him, "graduating high school is a big deal! And the three of you will be headed off to college soon. We needed one last hurrah, right?"

Taichi smiled and nodded at her. He still wondered how she'd gotten away with throwing such a party- his parents would have killed him. The brunette wasn't complaining, though.

Taichi felt a hand grab onto his shoulder, so he swung around to see who it was. A cheerful Daisuke looked up at him.

"So, do you think you're ready for college?"

"I'm so excited." Taichi replied.

Jyou must have overheard, because he piped up behind them. "Well, you shouldn't be." He sighed and looked at the floor, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "The excitement for me died down on the first day. I'm still drowning in school work."

"Well, no one told you to become a doctor, Jyou!" Taichi laughed, turning back to Daisuke. "I'm more than ready to get out of here."

In a few months, Taichi would be headed to Yamaguchi University. It was on the other side of Japan, but he couldn't turn down a top-30 offer. The school was a reach school and he didn't really expect to get in. When he told his family the news they were torn between joy and sadness because they knew they would see him a lot less. Hikari was the one who had really helped him decide, though. She pushed him to confirm his enrollment. His little sister insisted that it was the best decision for him, even though she would miss him. Taichi was convinced that she just wanted their room to herself.

On the other side of the party, Yamato was slowly sipping his cup of beer. Drinking wasn't exactly his thing, but he didn't want people to badger him about celebrating all night. He'd probably been holding on to the same cup for over an hour, but he doubted that anyone noticed. Ken Ichijouji was standing against the wall next to him, silently observing the party.

Yamato leaned over, "So, are you having fun?"

Ken seemed to snap out of a daze. "Oh, yeah! Thanks so much for inviting me- well, I guess it was Mimi, wasn't it?"

"We're all happy to have you here." The blonde replied, noticing the younger chosen child didn't have a drink either. Ken fidgeted with his hands once he'd realized the older boy noticed. Yamato smirked, slightly relieved that he wasn't the only one who wasn't celebrating in the conventional way.

"Hey, really," he went on, determined to stop Ken's fidgeting, "I'm glad you're here! I'm more of a people-watcher myself, but it's boring to do it on your own, you know?"

Ken let his hands fall to his sides. "Yeah, I suppose." He looked around and scanned the crowd. He only knew a handful of the people there because he attended a different high school. It seemed like everyone was having more fun than him, but perhaps it was just a different type of fun. Daisuke was milling around the room and making friends like the typical social butterfly he was. Miyako was sat on the sofa talking to some friends from her computer club. Hikari was… sitting off to the side. Ken cocked his head. It wasn't like her to look down at an event like this.

"Do you mind if I step outside for a moment?" Yamato asked, pulling Ken out of his thoughts.

The younger boy watched his friend pull out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Oh, not at all… I didn't know you uh, you-"

"It's a new habit." Yamato stated bluntly.

Ken waited for a moment to see if he was going to explain himself, but he didn't. "Well, I'll head over there." He said, motioning towards Hikari.

Yamato looked concerned. "Is she okay?"

"I'm sure she's fine." Ken replied, smiling again. "I'll go check on her."

The blonde made his way towards the front door. He thought it would be a better idea to smoke out on the front walkway so he wouldn't fill Mimi's apartment with a terrible smell. Plus, he really didn't want all his friends finding out about his bad habit.

Mimi saw him go by and cut off her conversation with Taichi to ask him if he was leaving.

Yamato smirked at her, "You think I would leave your party this early?" He raised his voice so she could hear him over the crowd before walking out the door. It shut behind him, muffling all the voices. Quiet.

Meanwhile, Ken approached Hikari, unsure if something was wrong or not. She had her phone out, but the boy could see that she wasn't actually using it.

"Erm, hey..." he began, hoping his company wasn't unwanted.

"Oh, hi!" Hikari replied, raising her head to look at him. She instantly put a smile on her face as if she was trying to pretend she didn't look sad a moment ago.

Ken stopped in front of her, unsure of where to place himself. Hikari was sat in a single chair and there wasn't any place else to sit. "You alright?"

"Of course!" the girl said a little too quickly. "This is one heck of a party, huh?"

"For one heck of an occasion." Ken concluded. Hikari bit her lip. He decided to push further. It was better than leaving her alone again. "So, Taichi's attending Yamaguchi, huh?"

"Yeah," Hikari forced another smile, "isn't it great? I'm so proud of him."

"And rightly so." Ken shifted his weight on his feet. "That's a great school. I would be proud to get in there."

"Mmm…" The girl's voice trailed off.

It was silent for a moment, and Ken couldn't think of what to do. "Well-"

"I'm going to miss him." Hikari said suddenly. She bit her lip again and looked back at the ground.

Ken's eyes widened. He was great friends with Hikari and all, but he never really knew what to do when girls were sad. He pushed his hand through his hair and sighed. "He'll miss you too. You guys are a great pair of siblings."

The brunette smiled, and this time Ken could tell it was genuine. "Thanks," She said, looking up again, "but don't you think it's a little selfish of me to be sitting here at his graduation party? After all, it's not every day you get to send your older brother off to college."

"Not at all!" the boy retorted. "I think it's a bit natural. I imagine that I would feel the same way if I was seeing my older brother off to school."

Hikari furrowed her brow and muttered a quick apology, realizing that what she was saying probably sounded selfish to him. The boy insisted it wasn't a problem. Hikari nodded but didn't believe him, unaware that Ken was internally scolding himself for being so awkward.

Their conversation dwindled again, but luckily, Ken spotted Takeru across the room. It looked like he'd just finished a conversation with someone.

"Hey, why don't we go hang out with Takeru?" Ken asked, pointing in his direction. "He's sending Yamato off too, you know. Maybe he'll be able to help cheer you up."

Hikari smiled and got up. "Sure. Let's try and have some fun."

Sora, the final graduate, was standing in the kitchen talking to some members of her tennis team. They were going on and on about how she wasn't going to continue playing in college.

"But you're so good!" One of them lauded.

"Really," another girl piped up, "you were the best doubles partner I ever had!"

"Thanks, Nori." Sora blushed, taking another sip of her drink. She already felt a bit red in the face and these compliments weren't helping. "But hey, what about you? You'll be a senior next year, do you have any plans?"

Nori sighed and pushed a lock of black hair behind her ear. "No. Not yet at least. Well," she chuckled, "I won't be majoring in math like you!"

Sora smirked. Whenever she told anyone about her planned major, no one seemed excited about it. It was math, the subject that most people despised in school. Sora, however, always found that it came easy to her. It was something she was good at, and when she was pressured to decide what she was going to study, she put it down on her applications.

"Hey!" Nori reached over and grabbed some shot glasses off the counter, "Another round for Sora, huh?"

The girls on Sora's team nodded in approval, reaching out and taking one. Sora, however, placed a hand over her stomach. "Oh gosh Nori, I really don't think I should have another, I-"

Her friend cut her off. "Come on! It's your party. Just one more, okay?"

Sora grudgingly took a glass. Although her and Nori were great friends, and even better partners, their drinking habits didn't really match up.

"Alright," Nori smirked once everyone's glasses were full, "to math!"

"To math!" The group replied, laughing as they downed the alcohol.

"To math." Sora grimaced, making the mistake of smelling the liquid before throwing it back. She stuck out her tongue and waited for the unsettled feeling in her stomach to end. Two seconds turned into ten, and the redhead realized that the feeling wasn't going to go away.

"Erm, excuse me…" Sora muttered, clumsily placing her glass back down on the counter. She pushed her way through the crowd in the kitchen, but it felt like she couldn't get out fast enough.

Outside, Yamato lit his cigarette and rested his arms on the railing, looking out across the city. He inhaled the smoke and pushed it back out, watching it dance it's way across the red and white lights. The silence was nice, but the cool air felt better. Mimi's apartment was packed, and it was cool to see all his friends in one place, but the blonde didn't flourish in crowds. Throughout high school he had enjoyed performing in front of them, but being in them was a different story. He flicked some ash off the side of the balcony and brought the cigarette to his lips again. He barely had time to enjoy the hit before he heard the door open behind him.

The blonde dropped his cigarette off the edge- a gut reaction- and turned around to see who it was. He raised a brow once he recognized her.

"S-sora, what are you doing out here?" He bit his lip, wondering how badly the air around him smelled. "Shouldn't you be inside with everyone else?"

The redhead simply shook her head as she closed the door behind her, leaning against it for a moment. She closed her eyes, tilt her head to the side, and breathed a sigh of relief once the cool air hit her face.

Yamato stared at her. "You're drunk."

Sora nodded, looking more disheveled with each second that passed.

"Why did you drink so much?"

The girl opened her eyes and stepped towards him, reaching out for the railing once she was close enough. "It wasn't my fault."

Yamato tensed up. He could feel how thick the air around him was. If he kept quiet, maybe Sora would head back inside.

She didn't, though. In fact, she really seemed to settle into her spot. She shut her eyes again and took a deep breath. Yamato cringed.

As expected, Sora furrowed her brow. "Why does it smell like-" she snapped her head and glared at him. "Yamato!"

"W-what!?" he tried to play it off like he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh, don't give me that!" She stood up straight and shot daggers at him. "You told me you were going to quit when I caught you before."

"W-well-" Yamato struggled to come up with something to say.

"You know how unhealthy smoking is!"

"I-"

"It'll ruin your voice!"

"Sora, I-"

"I'm so disappointed."

Yamato gave up trying to interrupt her and went back to staring out over the city. He tried to think about something else, but his mind was blank. He only spoke up again once the silence between them became uncomfortable. "You know, I'm a grown man now, and I can make my own decisions."

He could still feel Sora staring at him when she responded. "Well you're a pretty stupid grown man to be making that choice."

The blonde sighed, deciding to drop it. Sora was stubborn, not to mention drunk, and he wasn't going to win even though deep down he knew she was right.

"You know," the girl spoke again, placing her hand on her stomach as she straightened herself up, "I know we aren't as close as we used to be… you know…"

Yamato still refused to look at her, knowing where she was going.

"…But I still care about you, and I don't want you to get sick or anything."

"Thanks, Sora." He mumbled bluntly, and silence overcame them again. They both stood there for a moment, looking out over the lights. Yamato became hyper-aware of himself, wondering if there was too little space between them. "Um," he began, realizing he should probably make sure she was alright before attempting to make an exit, "well-"

The door opened again.

"Oh, there you are!"

It was Mimi. Yamato turned around to face her, and it was clear that she'd only been looking for Sora. He caught her throw a puzzled look his way and figured she was probably wondering what the two of them were doing off together. Before he could get a word out, the girl fanned the air in front of her.

"Jesus, Yamato! Have you been smoking again?!"

"Oh, god." Yamato muttered, rolling his eyes. He expected Sora to answer for him, but she didn't. He took advantage of the chance to change the topic. "Erm, Sora's feeling… not too well…"

Mimi raised a brow and turned to look at her friend who was leaned up against the balcony railing again, looking out over the edge. "Sora, are you alright?"

The redhead didn't turn around, but she managed to mumble that she was okay and held her arm up at her side to flash a thumbs-up.

Mimi chuckled. "Well at least that means you're having fun!"

Sora turned around at that and shot Mimi a skeptical look. "I don't think I ever want to have this much fun again." She paused for a moment, stood up straight, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Maybe we should head back inside, maybe we could get some water?"

Mimi nodded sympathetically. "Water, sure! And Yamato, are you coming, or are you going to stay out here and light up another death-stick?"

Yamato rolled his eyes again and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Ah, Mimi, why do you always have to be like this?"

Sora answered instead, keeping her words quiet but strict. "If you didn't make stupid decisions then neither of us would have to nag you."

"I appreciate the concern guys, but it's not like I'm addicted, alright?" He pulled the front door open and instantly felt the hot, heavy air seeping out. "There's just a lot of people here and it's stressing me out."

Mimi grabbed hold of Sora's hand and helped her step through the doorway before turning back and shooting Yamato a glare. She pointed at her eyes, then at him. He shrugged and smiled sheepishly, secretly hoping that neither of them would tell on him. He thought Mimi and Sora were bad with nagging him, but Takeru was even worse.

Yamato barely had time to shut the door before he spotted Taichi walking towards him. The brunette was balancing tons of little glasses in his hands.

"What are you doing with those?" Yamato asked hesitantly, looking down at the clear liquor that filled each of them.

Taichi nodded at Yamato and motioned down at them. "Take one, will you? Where's everyone else? We have to do a proper toast!"

Yamato blinked. He glanced over Taichi's shoulder and saw Sora gripping onto Mimi's hand as they walked across the room. "I don't really know if-"

"Oh, just take one!" Taichi spun around and scanned the room. He spotted his friends one by one and called them over. "Eh, hey," he leaned back over towards Yamato, "will you do me a favor and give one to my sister?"

"What? Why?" Yamato asked, still considering whether to turn Taichi down on his offer.

"I'm her older brother!" Taichi explained, "I can't just give her alcohol! You do it, so it's not technically from me."

Yamato sighed and took two of the glasses. His friends joined them one after the other.

"Taichi, you've got to be kidding me…" Sora groaned.

Jyou looked appalled at his. Koushiro glanced around at his friends, trying to search for the reaction he should have in the faces of others.

"We've got to do a proper toast!" Taichi exclaimed, making a point to lock eyes with those who'd tried to reject his offer. "When's the last time the eight of us have been together at once? We've got to celebrate all the incredible times we've had."

The group became silent. Taichi looked expectantly at each one of his friends. He knew that this could potentially be one of the last times they would all be in one room. Did they?

Someone in the group sniffled and Taichi looked around to see who it was. Everyone's eyes were locked on Mimi, but the girl was looking straight down at the ground.

"Hey," Taichi began, treading carefully, "are you alright? I… I didn't mean to upset you."

Mimi looked up at him and offered a sheepish smile. "I just… I just can't believe at the end of the summer you'll all be gone! That's all." She used her sleeve to wipe some water out of the corner of her eye.

"Eh, Mimi," Jyou piped up, "where was all this emotion when I left for university? I've been gone for a year now!"

Mimi's lower lip quivered and she teared up again. "Jyou!"

Everyone laughed. No matter how much time their group of eight spent apart, they always seemed to pick right back up where they left off when all of them got together. Perhaps some dynamics between them had changed, and perhaps some of them had grown and changed and matured, but at the end of the day they made a good team. They always had. Taichi raised his glass in the air and looked around at his friends. They all smiled and looked back at him. If they still had any qualms about one final drink, it didn't show on anyone's face.

"Here's to us!" Taichi cheered, and they all clinked their glasses together.

* * *

"Taichi! Taichi!"

The brunette didn't budge. He laid tangled in his blankets, hoping that whoever was calling him would give up.

"Taichi!"

He grumbled a little and rolled over, still not opening his eyes. He guessed that it was close to noon. Someone had left his bedroom window open and he could feel the warm air blowing in. The sun must have been heating it for a while.

"Taichi!" This time, the shout of his name was accompanied by a knocking on his door.

"Ehhh?" The boy groaned, squinting through one of his eyes. He could already tell it was his mother. His father's knock was much louder, and Hikari never bothered to announce herself before coming in.

Mrs. Yagami cracked the door open and leaned inside. "Taichi?"

The boy groaned again, rolling back over to face the wall.

His mother wasn't pleased. "Listen young man, you need to get up or I'm going to give your breakfast to your sister. It's been sitting on the table for an hour now."

Taichi remained silent. He wasn't ignoring his mom- he was just half asleep. He pulled his blankets up over his head and curled up.

Mrs. Yagami sighed. "Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you had gotten back at a reasonable hour last night. I told you not to have Hikari out too long!"

Taichi rolled back over and peeked over the top of the blankets. "Sorry mom." He said, unsure if he should actually apologize. 'Don't be out too late' was a loose command to him. Who defined "too late" anyways?

"Come eat. You have to be at practice soon, don't you?" Mrs. Yagami walked away and left the door open. The television was on in the living room and it was just loud enough to be annoying.

Taichi glanced over at the clock sitting on his desk and gasped when he realized what time it was.

"Noon…?" he muttered to himself. Football practice was supposed to start in an hour and he'd forgotten all about it! The boy laid in bed for a moment, trying to decide whether he should panic and rush to get ready or simply accept the fact that he would be late. Either way, there definitely wouldn't be enough time for breakfast. He begrudgingly got out from under his blankets and sat upright, turning so he could put his feet on the floor.

Taichi blinked a few times and gave himself a minute to truly wake up. He definitely didn't feel well rested. In fact, he felt pretty bad. He thought about calling his coach to say he was sick and couldn't play, but that would be pretty irresponsible for a captain to do. The boy knew that he had a responsibility to be there. He sighed as he stood up and stretched. He might have been awake, but his muscles definitely weren't.

Hikari, on the other hand, had been up for hours. She put her empty plate into the sink and sat back down at the table. The news had been on the entire time she was eating, but this particular segment caught her attention.

A middle-aged news anchor just introduced a scientist as a guest on the show and he called him a 'Digital World expert'. Hikari raised a brow at the word 'expert'. She imagined that he would just be another fluke ready to join the ranks of obsessed professionals trying to find out something- anything- about digimon.

Over the years, a number of people had come forth with theories about the digital world. The hype had died down a bit since their last battle with BelialVamdemon, but every now and then the media would feature someone. Common themes of interviews like this one included scientific theories about where the digiworld was, how it was made, and how earth could defend itself against possible intruders. At first Hikari, Taichi, and the other kids were nervous about all the attention digimon were getting. They were unsure whether humans could handle that sort of information. Eventually though, the existence of digimon became an accepted fact. As the time of peace went on, folks became more at ease with the idea of a parallel world. Well, most folks.

This scientist seemed a little bit  _off_. Hikari zoned in on the television as she listened to him speak.

"What we've seen from these creatures is that they can possess extreme amounts of power. My question is- why hasn't anyone tried to harness that? It's a lucrative idea, and one that I've been working on for years now."

"For years?" The news anchor asked, "What sort of work have you done?"

The scientist pulled himself up in his seat and straightened out his jacket. It was like he was preparing to say something he'd been rehearsing. "Most of the work my research team has done has consisted of analyzing the powers of the monsters that we've seen right here in Tokyo. We've looked over tons of film and data files that were picked up by local radio and satellite stations. We want to figure out how these creatures attack and where that energy comes from."

"And what would you plan to do with that sort of information?"

Hikari leaned in closer towards the television to hear the answer, but a loud clamor coming from her and Taichi's room suddenly grabbed her attention. Her brother threw open the door and struggled to tie one of his shoes as he hopped into the main living area.

"Taichi, you should come look at this." The girl said, gesturing towards the television. She seemed unphased by her brother's clumsy demeanor.

"Sorry, Hikari!" he responded, out of breath. He dashed over towards the table and picked up a handful of food that he quickly shoved into his mouth, not caring to swallow before speaking, "I'm running late! Tell me about it later, would ya?"

"Wait-!" Hikari stood from her chair and raised her hand out, trying to catch his attention as he bolted down the hall.

"Sorry!" He called back, running out of the house and slamming the door behind him.

The younger Yagami sighed and slumped back down into her chair. She'd missed the rest of the interview.

"Thank you for being here, Mr. Endo! Endo Hiroki, everyone!"

The show cut to commercials and Hikari was left a little stunned. Hiroki Endo. His name left a sinking feeling in the girl's stomach. Maybe he was a fluke, but there was something about him. He wasn't like the other 'experts'. Hikari could feel it.

* * *

Daisuke sat huffing and puffing on the bench as he watched Taichi score the goal that would end practice. A boy named Reiji was acting as goalkeeper, but Taichi's perfect shot flew right by him, much to his dismay. The scrimmage was over and Daisuke realized he had a lot of work left to do if he wanted to be as good as Taichi was.

"Taichi…" the younger boy sighed as his role model walked towards him, "how can you run for so long?" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Reiji glare at him, but he let it be.

"Practice!" The elder Yagami replied with a cheesy smile. "The transition from playing in middle school to high school is tough. You've just got to keep working at it!"

Daisuke frowned and wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"But for the record, I think you're pretty fast! You've got a year under your belt and you're faster than some of the seniors already." Taichi added on, tossing the younger boy his football.

Daisuke let out a yelp as he caught it, struggling to not fall backwards off the bench. A group of boys around him laughed and he frowned again.

Taichi took a seat next to Daisuke and rummaged through his bag to find his own water bottle. He didn't feel too tired, but the summer heat was making him thirsty. He took a giant gulp and poured a bit on his forehead. "Ahh… wha..?"

The boy heard a quiet beeping noise coming from inside his bag. He pushed his hand in and pulled out his digivice. Taichi looked bewildered at the screen. It hadn't gone off like this in a long time. Was something wrong? Nearly on cue, his cell phone rang.

Daisuke looked over curiously. "Is that your digivice?" he asked, "Who's calling you?

"It's Koushiro." Taichi replied, answering the call. He could feel butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. "Hey, what's up?"

Daisuke leaned in so he could hear what the other digidestined way saying.

"Hey Taichi, there's something going on in the digital world."

"Ah." Taichi perked up. His suspicions were confirmed. "Is your digivice going off too?"

"Yeah," Koushiro began, "but I've known for hours."

"Right…" The brunette replied, wondering why he wouldn't have automatically assumed that by now. He glanced over at Daisuke, whose ear was now only a few inches away from his own. "Well, what's going on?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Koushiro replied. "My computer started picking up alerts and changes in data around noon. I'd go check it out myself, but I have a prior commitment."

"A prior commitment?" Taichi asked, raising a brow.

Koushiro ignored his question. "Can you take a buddy and go in and check things out?"

Daisuke leaned back and tried to conspicuously shoot a fist into the air. "Yes! Some action!"

Taichi glanced over at Daisuke again and shot him an agitated look. The younger boy slumped down a bit, glanced around, and noticed that some of his teammates were now staring at him. He turned red and focused on putting his things back in his bag so he could be prepared to go whenever Taichi was. Although he was also concerned about whatever threat was arising in the digital world, he was also excited to be back in action, even if that action was simply going to take a look around.

The older boy pressed his phone back to his ear. "Daisuke and I are at the school now. We can get into the digital world through the computer lab."

"Great." Koushiro responded. He could have left the conversation at that, but he felt the need to tack on some sort of warning. "And will you and Daisuke please be careful? I'm not too concerned about whatever this is but please don't do anything reckless."

"Right." Taichi rolled his eyes. He expected that sort of disclaimer when he was younger, but he didn't think he needed it now. "We're not going to start any trouble, you don't need to worry about us."

"I'm just saying," Koushiro explained, "if things get dangerous, don't stick around. We can always regroup and go in as a team later."

"Got it." Taichi replied, hanging up his phone. Daisuke was looking at him eagerly, waiting to hear the words. "Are you ready to open the digiport?"

Daisuke practically fell over in excitement.

Taichi smirked. "Well why don't you finish getting your things together? I'm gonna run ahead and make sure no one's around."

"Right!"

The elder boy jogged ahead as Daisuke shoved the rest of his belongings into his bag. He took off his cleats, replaced them with regular sneakers, and made sure to finish the rest of his water. At this point, only him and another one of his teammates remained. Everyone else had left and gone home.

Right as Daisuke picked up his bag to go, the other boy walked up to him. "Er, hey, Daisuke…"

"Hey Reiji." Daisuke muttered quickly, taking one last look around to make sure he'd gathered everything he needed. He wanted to walk off and join Taichi, but his teammate was still staring at him. "Do you need something?"

Reiji blushed a bit and spoke slowly, like he was carefully choosing each of his words before saying them out loud. "I, uh, I overheard you and Taichi talking and… you're going to the digital world?"

Daisuke stopped rushing and gave Reiji a confused look. "Yeah…" He said, matching Reiji's caution.

"Do you, uh, do you," Reiji shifted his weight on his feet, "do you think I could tag along with you? I've wanted to see it since I found out it existed."

"What?" Daisuke said, perhaps too quickly. "No way! It's dangerous. That's why Taichi and I have to go."

"Oh." The boy replied. His nervous persona disappeared and his response was a bit cold.

Daisuke kept looking at him confusedly, but his brows furrowed a bit now. "Listen… maybe another time."

Reiji shook off whatever was putting Daisuke on edge and smiled again. "Fine. I understand. I'll walk to the school with you, though. I have to go to the bathroom."

Daisuke nodded but didn't say anything. For some reason, Reiji's company started to make him feel uncomfortable. They walked in silence for a bit and nearly reached the school entrance before the boy piped up again.

"What's it like?"

"What?"

"The digital world." Reiji clarified. "What's it like?"

"I don't know," Daisuke responded as he pulled the door open, "digital-y, I guess?"

Reiji frowned. "No, really! It must be great."

"Sometimes." Daisuke mumbled, starting to wish Reiji would get lost.

Reiji was a bit of an odd kid. He was tall and had dark eyes with dark hair to match. He was a bit lanky, too, but he was fast. Sometimes it was impossible to catch him on the field, especially if he got a head start.

The boy gave up asking, but he went right past the bathroom when they went by it. Daisuke side-eyed him and began to think of how he could shoo him away.

"Didn't you say you had to go to the bathroom?" Daisuke questioned.

Reiji sighed. "Can't I just see the digital port? It's not like I can actually go in, right?"

"Taichi-san isn't going to like this…" Daisuke muttered to himself, giving in to the boy's persistence. Questions like Reiji's were common when the world first found out about digimon. Daisuke liked the attention at first, but it quickly grew annoying. Now the questions were rare, but the digidestined was still thoroughly agitated.

In a matter of moments the two of them were standing in the computer lab. One of the computers flashed on when Daisuke entered the room. Reiji looked over at him enviously.

"Now where is it…" Daisuke wondered as he dropped his bag on the ground and rummaged through it. He was sure that he packed his digivice that morning. Once he located it he zipped his bag back up and placed it down on top, realizing that  _he_  was the one who needed to go to the bathroom now. "Ah, shoot." The boy stood and turned towards Reiji. "Listen, don't touch anything, I need to run to the bathroom really quick. Taichi-san should be back any minute."

Reiji nodded and pulled out a chair as Daisuke dashed out of the room. He looked around for a minute and wondered how a computer could react to a human being's presence. As his eyes locked onto Daisuke's D-3, though, he wondered if it was due to humans at all. Reiji walked over and grabbed the device and looked at it for a moment. It felt heavy and worn out in his hands, and it was easy to imagine that he was the one who'd been using it.

The boy hesitated for a moment and listened for footsteps in the hall. There were none. He was all alone, at least for the time being. He gripped the D-3 more tightly and walked defiantly towards the computer.

"I'll see what it's like." He whispered. "I'm sure it's better than here."

With that, he pointed the device towards the screen. He really didn't expect anything to happen, but he was determined to see the digital world somehow. "Now how does this- whoa!"

Light flashed out of the screen and engulfed him. The boy barely had time to react before he felt himself being pulled in. He let out a short gasp, and then the light ate him whole. Reiji was gone, and so was Daisuke's D-3.

If all of this had happened fifteen seconds earlier, Taichi would have caught him. The older boy walked into the room and saw Daisuke's things on the floor, so he took a seat and waited. He wondered what had been sending the alert. Koushiro had mentioned something about data changing, so he wondered if something evil had appeared or evolved. No matter what it was, though, Taichi was sure that Agumon and him could destroy it.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Taichi-san!" Daisuke exclaimed as he hurried back into the room. He looked around and, to his relief, noticed that Reiji was gone. Perhaps Taichi had gotten rid of him.

Taichi stood and nodded. "It's not problem. Let's just get in and out as quickly as we can. I told Koushiro we wouldn't take too long."

"Right." Daisuke went back to his bag to grab his D-3, but it wasn't where he left it. He furrowed his brows and unzipped his bag, wondering if he'd only imagined pulling it out before. When he didn't find it in there he began to panic. The boy looked back towards Taichi, who was now looking at him with confusion.

"Are you alright?" He asked, peering over Daisuke at his mess of things. "You brought your digivice, didn't you?"

"I… I did…" Daisuke began, his voice trailing off as he realized what must have happened. "Oh, no…"

The boy stood and dashed over towards the computer. It was still on, and the digi-port had been opened. A small blip on the screen was supposed to represent Daisuke, but now it just represented Daisuke's device. Reiji was in there somewhere. He must have taken it.

"Oh no… Oh no, oh no." Daisuke mumbled as he ran back towards his bag, digging through it again. Maybe he was imagining all of this.

"What's going on?" Taichi asked, his voice filled with concern now.

Daisuke turned around defeated and looked at Taichi with apologetic eyes. "Reiji took my digivice."

"Reiji?" Taichi asked, wondering what in the world Daisuke was talking about.

"Ugh!" Daisuke slapped a hand across his forehead. "I let that stupid kid walk with me because he said he was going to use the bathroom, but he asked if he could see the digital world and I left him alone here."

Taichi quickly put two-and-two together and stood up rapidly from his seat. "What?!" He exclaimed, running over towards Daisuke's bag and starting to rummage through it himself. "Are you sure it's not in here? What do you mean he wanted to go to the digital world?"

"He asked me to take him with us!" Daisuke explained, stepping back to let Taichi search. "I told him no and kept trying to lose him but he persisted. I didn't think he'd do something like this!"

"So you left him alone with your digivice?!" Taichi spat, spinning around to look back at the boy. "Daisuke, how could you be so careless?!"

"Taichi, I'm sorry!" he pleaded. "I didn't think this would happen!"

"Well, you should have thought!" Taichi yelled, suddenly realizing the volume of his voice. He pushed his hair back and sighed. "I'm sorry."

Daisuke stood there silently, his eyes locked on the ground. "No, you're right. It's my fault, and now we don't even have a digivice that can get us in there."

Taichi hadn't even thought of that yet. He couldn't open the digiport with his own device and no one else was around. There was nothing they could do in the moment, and that's what frustrated Taichi most of all. "We need to call Koushiro." He muttered, realizing that he'd broken his word to his friend before they'd even left the computer lab. Did letting an average kid take a D-3 and run into the digital world during a dangerous situation count as something reckless?

"I'll do it." Daisuke offered. "He'll be really mad, but he should only be mad at me."

Taichi didn't dispute that point. He reached into his pocket and tossed Daisuke his cell phone. He'd make it up to the kid later for losing his temper, but right now they needed to focus.

As Daisuke dialed, the older boy walked back towards the computer and collapsed onto the chair in front of it. The blip of the stolen digivice was still on the screen, but so was Koushiro's alert.

"Shit." Taichi muttered, leaning back and looking hopelessly at the ceiling. "This is bad."

He could only imagine what Koushiro would say.


	2. Unexpected Consequences

Sora opened her eyes and quickly realized she wasn't in her own room. The walls were colored light pink and posters of the New York skyline hung everywhere. Clothes were littered around the floor and the dresser was covered with lotions and makeup. Everything belonged to Mimi. Sora realized that she never made it home after her graduation party.

The girl sat up in bed and felt herself get quite the headache. Her temples throbbed and she was absolutely quenched. Luckily Mimi seemed to have lent her some pajamas to sleep in so she wouldn't be totally uncomfortable.

Sora got herself up and headed out towards Mimi's sitting room. The door that led out to the balcony was open and it was letting in a warm breeze. The curtains blew back and forth and everything was quiet. It was hard to believe that same room was filled with people the night before.

"Mimi?" Sora called out, wondering where her friend had gone.

"I'm in the kitchen!"

The redhead rounded the corner and saw her doing dishes.

"Are those all from last night?" Sora asked, looking bewilderedly at the pile of cups that had accumulated on Mimi's drying rack.

Mimi finished up and nodded. "Mhmm. You know, sometimes it'd be nice for people to clean up after themselves!"

"I would've had I woken up earlier." Sora offered, feeling bad that Mimi did all of the work.

"Don't be silly, Sora." Mimi replied, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table. She offered Sora a seat and she obliged. "It was your party! And it seems like you had quite the night."

Sora groaned and leaned her head against one of her hands. The last thing she remembered was Taichi giving her a drink that she definitely shouldn't have had. "How come I stayed here?" she asked, already embarrassed about whatever the answer probably was.

Mimi laughed. "Well, you fell asleep on my couch! What kind of hostess would I be if I let you sleep there though? You didn't want to wake up so Taichi carried you all the way to my room."

Sora felt her face grow red. Taichi'd carried her? She could already imagine what he would say to her when he saw her again. "Where did you sleep?"

"My parents room." Mimi replied. "They won't be back until tomorrow."

Sora nodded and figured she must have looked a little ill because Mimi offered to get her some water. The redhead gladly accepted it and downed the cup of icy liquid in one go.

Mimi stared at her wide-eyed. "You must've really had a lot last night."

"I didn't want to." Sora replied, frowning. "Why do people think taking shots is a good way to celebrate?"

"I think that's only Taichi!" Mimi laughed, remembering the night before. "I don't know why we all listen to him."

Sora laughed at that too. "Well, it  _was_  nice to have everyone together at the same time."

"I know!" Mimi exclaimed, "It's funny, you know, we've all changed but when we come together it's like we can pick up right where we left off."

"Well, for the most part." Sora added on, the laughter gone from her voice.

Mimi leaned back in her chair and gave Sora a curious look. It didn't take her long to realize she was talking about Yamato. They'd broken up a few years after they started dating, but Mimi didn't know too many of the specifics. Even when Sora showed up on her doorstep the night it happened, she was hesitant to get into details about it. "Is it weird being around Yamato?" She asked.

"Um, not really." Sora replied, dragging out the last word so she could have some time to gather her thoughts. "We haven't hung out on our own in awhile… but being around him in a big group isn't so weird."

"Oh?" Mimi raised a brow, wondering how that could be possible.

"Before we dated I felt awkward being around him because I liked him. Now I feel awkward being around him because he used to be my person, and now he isn't." Sora explained. She paused for a moment and blushed. "I didn't embarrass myself when I was outside with him last night, did I?"

"I don't think so!" Mimi answered, "But who cares anyways? If he judged you for having fun then that's his own problem. That guy needs to loosen up, you know?"

"Mmm…" Sora mumbled as their conversation dwindled down. She wasn't sure if she agreed with her. They sat there for a moment and listened to the clock tick. Three seconds, four seconds, five seconds.

"Koushiro got tall." The redhead said quietly, trying to break the silence. Sora used to tower over him, but now it was quite the opposite.

"Did he?" Mimi asked, raising her brows like she'd just realized it. "I suppose he did..." Her voice trailed off and the conversation dwindled once more.

"Well, I should probably get going." Sora said, rising from her spot. "I'm sure my mom's wondering where I am."

"Of course!" Mimi replied, standing so she could walk her friend to the door. After a quick change of clothes, Sora was ready to go. "Hey, I really do hope you had fun last night, though. It was nice to have everyone together again."

"It sure was." Sora offered one final smile before heading out. "Thanks for hosting us."

Mimi was left in her now-clean apartment with the memories of the night before. Everything was a bit hazy, but she'd had fun too.

"Mimi, you plan one heck of a party." She said to herself as she leaned up against the wall and looked over her living room. She'd done such a good job of cleaning that she probably could have gotten away with throwing her party without begging her parents for permission to. It wasn't like her to lie, though- not that she was any good at it.

Suddenly the girl heard her cell phone go off in her bedroom so she dashed to pick it up. It was Koushiro.

"Hello?"

* * *

As Sora wandered down the street all she could think about was going back to bed. Last night had been a blast, but reality was beginning to set in and Sora wanted nothing to do with it.

"Math…" she muttered to herself, wondering whether she said the word with such detest because that's what she'd been forced to drink to or because she actually detested it.

As the girl walked farther and farther away from Mimi's apartment, she started to realize that there wasn't much left for her to look forward to. The party was supposed to be a huge send-off, but now there was the entirety of summer to get through before she would actually be going anywhere. For Sora, summer didn't mean much of anything. She had no plans besides packing up her things and preparing to move to another part of Tokyo. Her university wasn't too far away but it would definitely be too difficult to commute from one side of the city to the other. Overall, the summer held nothing exciting for her. Tennis wouldn't even be there for her anymore.

Before Sora's thoughts could drift towards tennis- something that was perhaps the most depressing for her- she noticed an old woman struggling to put up a mannequin in the window of a shop she was passing.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, choosing to dash inside. The door hit a bell and the woman was alerted to her presence. "Let me help you!"

The redhead went over towards the window and steadied the large statue. It was a lot lighter than she expected it to be. The entire thing seemed to be made out of plastic. It towered over the shopkeeper, though. The little old woman only came up to Sora's shoulders.

"Let's put it here." She said, leading Sora towards the spot she wanted the mannequin placed. Once it was on the ground she smiled. "Perfect."

Sora stepped back and got a good look at the woman she was helping. She was short for sure, but she seemed strong in stature. Her hair was grey and long and pulled back in one braid that went down to her hips. The outfit she was wearing seemed traditional, too, which took Sora by surprise. The girl looked around her and realized she was in a clothing shop and everything for sale was traditional in style.

The front of the shop was littered with racks of clothing and displays of really elaborate creations. Most things looked silky and colorful. They were so vibrant that you could see the care that was put into making them. There was a counter with a register towards the middle of the store, but then the back looked like a workshop.

"Thank you for your help, young lady." The older woman said as she watched Sora look around.

"Oh, it's not problem!" Sora replied cheerfully. She directed her attention to the shopkeeper for a second only to be drawn back in by the dresses. "Did you make all of these?"

The woman nodded and looked around as well, like she was taking a moment to admire her own work. "This is my shop. Everything in here is handmade by me with only the finest materials."

"Well everything's beautiful…" Sora said in awe. "Oh! Excuse my poor manners, please. My name is Takenouchi Sora."

"Takenouchi?" The woman asked, "Are you the daughter of Toshiko, who practices Ikebana?"

"Yeah," Sora responded, "how did you know?"

The woman grinned. "You're the spitting image of her. I quite admire your mother's shop. She's very talented, you know, and a frequent customer of mine."

"Oh…" the redhead responded quietly, feeling a bit bad that she hadn't known. Her mother had a few kimonos in her wardrobe but she'd never paid much attention to them before. Now that she was surrounded by them, though, each outfit seemed to be competing for her attention.

"Wouldn't you like to know what my name is?" The woman asked, smirking a bit.

Sora blushed instantly. Her mother would kill her if word got back to her about how rude she was being in someone else's boutique. "Yes! Of course, I'm sorry."

The old lady smiled, like she thought Sora's embarrassment was endearing. "My name is Daishi Chiyoko."

Sora kept her reply short. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Daishi-sama."

"Please," the woman responded as she stepped away from the window, "call me Chiyoko."

Sora took note of the request but decided she would feel uncomfortable obliging so immediately. She'd just met the woman and was a little off-put by her kind demeanor.

"So, Takenouchi Sora," Chiyoko went on, "I've got to repay you for helping me."

That suggestion caught Sora's attention immediately. "Oh, no! It was my pleasure to help, and I barely did anything."

Chiyoko smiled again, ignoring her rejection. "Why don't you stop by tomorrow? My store closes at 5pm. I'll have a gift for you."

Once again, Sora tried to decline the offer. "Daishi-sama, I couldn't."

"Well I'll be disappointed if I don't see you, and please, again, just call me Chiyoko."

The girl was at a loss. She figured Chiyoko wasn't going to accept her saying no, so she nodded and agreed to come. It couldn't be that big of a gift. The woman was probably just grateful, especially since it seemed like she ran the shop by herself.

"Good." Chiyoko said in response. "Don't forget, 5 o'clock."

Sora didn't hear her cell phone ringing as she assured her new acquaintance that she'd be there. It went to her voicemail after a few loops through the muffled ringtone.

* * *

Koushiro paced back and forth in his room. Taichi and Daisuke were sat on two chairs as they watched him walk from one side to the other.

"Daisuke," the boy began, "tell me one more time how Reiji managed to get into the digital world?"

"I don't know." Daisuke answered. "I've told you that a thousand times now. When I came back from the bathroom my digivice was missing and Reiji was gone."

"I just don't understand how Reiji could open the digiport…" Koushiro muttered to himself. Daisuke wondered if he should answer, but he kept his mouth shut. He already felt pretty embarrassed. Him and Taichi had no way to open the digiport without his D-3, so they'd needed to call on their friends to help them.

Takeru and Hikari arrived fairly quickly. Mimi came a few minutes after that.

"Was this everyone you could get in contact with, Koushiro?" Taichi asked, looking worriedly around at his small group of friends.

Koushiro sighed. "Unfortunately, yes."

The brunette let out a large groan. His friends could get together for a party, but not for an emergency like this?

"What's going on?" Mimi asked. Koushiro hadn't been too detailed on the phone. He emphasized that they needed her help as quickly as possible, so she decided she'd get caught up when she arrived.

Koushiro motioned towards Taichi and Daisuke. "I think they'll be better at explaining it than me."

Mimi turned and looked at them expectantly. Hikari gave her brother a worried look, her nervous brown orbs matching his. The two boys alternated telling the story, with Daisuke offering an apology at the end. He expected his friends to scold him but they were rather supportive. Perhaps the situation was scarier in the moment, or perhaps Taichi had lost his temper.

"So," Koushiro continued, "now we need to find Reiji,  _and_  we need to locate the source of the alert I got earlier today."

"And you need us to open the digiport." Takeru tacked on, much to Daisuke's embarrassment. Both he and Hikari pulled out their D-3's, ready to go when they were given the command.

"Right." Koushiro said. "Let's not be hasty, though. We've got two things to do, so I think it'd be best if we split up. Taichi and Daisuke, you two find Reiji. Takeru and Hikari, you guys go to the location the alert came from and see if you can figure out what's up."

"And me?" Mimi asked, wondering if the boy had forgotten her. Koushiro walked towards her and, for the first time, Mimi realized how tall he'd actually gotten. Sora was right. He used to be one of the smallest members of the group but now he towered over her. He wasn't as tall as Taichi or Yamato, but he stood with authority, and his shoulders were at a height that made it seem easy for her to rest her head on him.

"Mimi?"

The girl snapped out of her trance and realized everyone was staring at her. Koushiro had given her instructions and she'd missed every word he said. Mimi acted quickly and faked a yawn as she tried not to blush. "S-sorry?"

Koushiro blinked as he looked down at her. "I asked if you wouldn't mind staying back and helping me monitor the situation. With two missions going on at once it'll be difficult to do on my own."

"Oh, sure." She said, still trying to recover. "Sorry. I'm just really tired."

"Are you sure you don't mind staying back?"

Mimi looked up at him again. "I don't."

And, for some reason, she really didn't. Koushiro kept his eyes on her for a moment to see if he could catch her in a lie, but she wasn't faking what she said. Her tone was too honest. She began to feel unusually awkward though so she averted her gaze towards the ground. He'd probably only been looking at her for a few seconds, but to Mimi, it felt like an eternity.

"Alright," Taichi piped up from across the room, "it's set then. Let's get moving."

"Right." Koushiro replied, switching gears. He took a seat at his computer and motioned for Mimi to take over the other monitor. "All of your digimon should be waiting for you once you cross over. Taichi and Daisuke, the location the D-3 is giving off means that Reiji is somewhere in this area. I'd recommend heading there first. Hikari and Takeru, I need you two to head more north. It might be quicker to fly."

Taichi was more than ready at this point. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Koushiro replied skeptically, "don't do anything stupid."

Another groan from Taichi could be heard as the four teens got sucked into the computer screen. Mimi and Koushiro were left on their own once the light disappeared. The boy's room was small, but he managed to fit a few different desks and computers in it. His trusty laptop was sat in front of him while Mimi was tasked with booting up a desktop.

"Can you put your password in?" She leaned over and asked.

"Oh, right, sorry Mimi."

Koushiro waited for a moment to make sure everything looked good on his screen before heading over to help the girl out. Mimi scooted out of the way so that he could get to the keyboard, but they were still close enough for his arm to brush against hers with each keystroke. Normally she wouldn't have noticed something like that, or she would have pulled her arm away, but she kept it there and wondered if Koushiro had noticed too.

A map of the digital world popped up once he was logged in. It was focused in on the area that their four friends had been sent to. Most of the map was green and lush, but it turned into desert towards the north.

"There." He pointed at two red dots. "That's Taichi and Daisuke." Two other dots were moving away from them. "That's Hikari and Takeru. The younger kids are heading towards this area I've marked up here. If they message asking for directions, you're in charge, alright?"

"You got it." Mimi replied. Koushiro stood straight again and the girl turned to look up at him. They had work to do, but she didn't want their conversation to end. "And what will you be doing?"

"I'll be keeping an eye on Taichi and Daisuke," he grumbled, "Right now Daisuke and V-mon can't help, and Reiji's just a giant burden. If they run into something that Taichi and Agumon can't handle on their own we'll need to go in and help."

"Do you know anything about this Reiji kid?" Mimi asked.

Koushiro sighed. "Not really. All Taichi said was that he's some rising senior from the football team."

The girl furrowed her brow. So he was in their grade. She tried to put a face to the name, but she honestly could not remember who he was.

* * *

The moment Reiji's feet hit the ground, he ran. He didn't know where he was, but he figured Taichi and Daisuke would be close behind him and he certainly didn't want to be found. Not yet. He only paused after running in some unknown direction for a few minutes, and that's when he truly got to take a look around.

"Wow…" he muttered to himself as he took in the brightness of everything. The colors were vivid and the foliage was unlike anything he'd seen in Japan. There was an air of mystery all around him. Silence.

Suddenly Reiji stopped feeling invincible. He thought about how he should have left a trail back towards where he came from. Daisuke had mentioned there was some type of danger, and that warning was now fresh in his mind. He really had no idea where he was or what he was doing.

The boy took a few cautious steps forward and cringed each time a twig or leaf was crushed under his heavy feet. He felt like he was the center of attention and it was only a matter of time until monsters were alerted to his presence and would pick him off like the virus he was. Reiji heard rustling from a bush behind him and became so scared he could hardly move. He stood frozen in his spot as he turned his head to see what was coming out to get him.

The rustling became more hectic as a small monster pushed his way out of the foliage. He tripped on a root and rolled out, crashing on the ground at Reiji's feet. The boy remained frozen for a second, but felt less threatened the more the tiny creature groaned in pain.

"Hey… uh… are you… alright?" Reiji asked, bending down a bit. He didn't want to let his defenses down but the little guy seemed harmless enough.

"I'm fine." The monster said shortly before looking up and realizing who he was talking to. "Whoa! You're a human! And certainly not one that I've seen before. Who are you?"

"Uh, my name's Reiji." He replied as he watched the digimon get up and dust himself off.

"It's a pleasure, Reiji. My name's Impmon!" He extended his paw out and offered to shake Reiji's hand, but the boy hesitated.

"Impmon?" the human repeated, glancing down at the animalistic features of his hand. He wore red gloves and a red bandana around his neck, and his fur was colored purple. The little monster's eyes were green and his lips were stretched into a thin smile that magnified his two vampire-esque teeth.

Impmon widened his smile. "Yep!"

Reiji took his paw and shook it lightly, still careful to not drop all of his defenses. "And you're a digimon?"

"Sure am! We're all digimon around here. Well, for the most part. Humans come through every now and then but those are just the chosen children."

"Oh, yeah." Reiji glanced down at the ground. He put two and two together and realized the 'chosen children' that Impmon were talking about probably included Daisuke and Taichi. It was another reminder that they were special and he wasn't.

Impmon picked up on the change in the boy's attitude. Reiji turned solemn at the mention of the group. "You're not with them, are you?"

"Er, no… not really…" the boy felt the presence of the D-3 in his pocket. Although it had gotten him into the digital world, it did nothing in terms of making him feel like he belonged there.

"Well good!" The digimon exclaimed, much to Reiji's surprise. "Those kids are so well received around these parts, but not everything they do is helpful, you know."

Reiji furrowed his brow and offered Impmon a curious look. The little digimon had his attention now.

"Those kids, all they think about is themselves! They're so concerned with being heroes that they don't care who gets hurt. I've seen many good digimon die because they wouldn't help them, or because they've stood in their way. Everyone thinks there's something special about those kids, but they're not free of faults…"

Impmon's words somehow made Reiji feel better about himself. He'd always been so envious of those with digimon partners that he didn't stop to think about who they actually were. Taichi was always so selfish playing football; perhaps he was the same way in the digital world. It seemed to make sense.

"They never hurt  _you_ , did they?" Reiji asked. He'd only met the digimon a few minutes ago but he already felt a connection to him.

"Me?" Impmon asked, pointing at himself. "Oh no, not me. I've heard rumors though… of digimon getting in their way. Let me tell you, I'd be scared out of my wits to cross their path in my current form. I'm too small and weak. I wouldn't stand a chance against them without digivolving. It's a shame, though. For every chosen human there is a chosen digimon, and I am not one of them."

Reiji couldn't help but start to think of Impmon as an old friend. Everything he was saying was perfect. It was like they'd been experiencing the same hardships a dimension away from each other.

"Well, look at this!" Reiji said suddenly, pulling the D-3 out of his pocket.

Impmon's eyes widened as he realized what it was. He began to reach out towards it, but quickly caught himself and pulled his hand back. "Is it… is it yours?"

"Er, no… it's not mine." The boy replied, stuffing it back into his pocket. He found it a bit strange that the digimon had almost grabbed it, and he was sure he'd get in more trouble than he was already in if he lost it. "It belongs to someone else." Reiji decided to skip the details about how it'd fallen into his possession. "It let me into the digital world, though, even though I don't really think I'm supposed to be here."

Impmon kept staring at the boys pocket, tracing the outline of the digivice with his gaze. "That gives me an idea, you know." He said, glancing back up towards Reiji. "Maybe no one's really special, it's just the tools that people are given. And hey, can I say something else?"

"Sure." Reiji nodded, still listening intently.

"I don't mean to be forward, but I think you were  _meant_  to fall into the digital world today!" The little digimon pointed a gloved finger up at the boy. "I've been wandering along without a partner for who knows how long now, and here you are! Crossing paths couldn't be a coincidence, huh?"

Reiji's eyes brightened, and he was going to say something, but he heard his name being called off in the distance. "Shit…" he muttered, pushing his hand into his pocket and clutching onto the D-3.

"It's them, isn't it?" Impmon asked, turning around to face the direction the voices were coming from. He frowned in disgust, although Reiji couldn't see.

"Yeah." He said. Daisuke's voice was too recognizable.

"Well look," Impmon began, "I'm sure you're going to have to give that fancy device back, but we're meant to be partners! I can feel it! I'll figure out a way to get you back here, but until then, make sure not to mention me, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Reiji's words stumbled out of his mouth as Daisuke's voice became louder and louder. "Why?"

"Heh," Impmon chuckled, "If those chosen children know you've got a digimon partner, they won't like it! They can't be the heroes if us average folks are pairing up."

"Mmm." Reiji nodded, it made enough sense. "Okay then. Until next time. I'm glad I met you today, Impmon."

"Me too!" The little digimon replied as he hurried the human off. As he watched Reiji disappear back into the forest, a soft pink butterfly landed on his nose. With one swift movement he snatched it into his paw and crushed it, littering its remains across the ground.

* * *

It didn't take long for Daisuke to demand his D-3 back after they'd managed to find Reiji.

"Gimme that!" he exclaimed as he snatched it out of his hands. "What's wrong with you?! Why would you run into the digital world on your own?!"

"I'm sorry." Was all Reiji could muster as he felt the emptiness in his pocket. The apology sounded empty but he found it hard to care. "I just… really wanted to see it."

"Well I hope you're happy with yourself." Taichi said strictly. "You really caused a lot of trouble for us."

Reiji didn't respond to that. He actually found it hard not to shoot Taichi a glare. Being around the two 'chosen children' felt a little toxic. All the boy could think about was what type of 'heroes' they actually were, but Impmon had given him a pretty good idea.

Daisuke pulled out his d-terminal and messaged Koushiro to let him know that they'd found Reiji unharmed. It hadn't taken long at all, thanks to the tracking device.

The message was still well received though, and back in the real world Koushiro let out a giant sigh of relief.

"They found him?" Mimi asked, peeling her eyes away from the computer screen to glance over at him.

"Thankfully." He replied. "We need to be more careful now that humans know about the digital world. Who knows what could happen if an average kid got lost in there."

Mimi tried to imagine the possibilities, but they were truly endless. This was a new age of sorts. The two worlds were supposed to co-exist, and her and her friends were supposed to act as the overseers. Perhaps that was going to be a rougher job than she'd expected it to be.

Almost as if something wanted to confirm Mimi's fears, the two red dots that represented Takeru and Hikari disappeared off the map. The girl looked blankly at the screen for a moment, like it was some sort of glitch or a giant trick. Where did they go?

"Er, Koushiro…" she said quietly, unsure if she should panic or not.

"What?" He turned around and saw the worried look on her face. He repeated his question again, but with more immediacy. "What happened?"

Mimi took a second look at the screen just to make sure her eyes hadn't fooled her. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she informed Koushiro of the news. "Takeru and Hikari… They're gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, there's a second chapter for you! I hope you enjoyed it. Things are still building up but expect the next addition to be a very interesting one. I'm excited to continue exploring the changing relationships the chosen children are experiencing, and I'm excited to reveal more about the villains.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> garudamon

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It took me about a month to write, but I promise the next one won't take nearly as long. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is appreciated, as my goal is always to improve my writing. If you notice any grammatical mistakes as well, please let me know so I can edit them out. I can read over a chapter as many times as I want and I'll still manage to miss something. Anyways, I can't wait to begin exploring some more themes and relationships, so I'll try to update this as quickly as I can.


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